Pritish Nandy Communications announces that US-based international studio Sony Pictures has acquired worldwide distribution rights to PNC’s forthcoming film, Meerabai Not Out. This acquisition was announced today by Deborah Schindler, President of Sony Pictures International Motion Picture Production Group, New York.

DQ Entertainment, the internationally acclaimed AIMS listed animation and entertainment company has also acquired a 50% stake in the film which is being readied for summer release. This is DQE’s foray into the live action Bollywood market though it has worked on and is currently working on some of the world’s biggest animation projects.

Directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni from a screenplay by Soumik Sen, Meerabai Not Out stars Mandira Bedi as a brilliant maths teacher obsessed with cricket. Anil Kumble plays himself in his first starring role. TV star Eijaz Khan makes his Bollywood debut in the film which also stars Anupam Kher and Mahesh Manjrekar in leading roles. The music is by Sandesh Shandilya, who also gave the hit score for PNC’s very successful film Chameli.

“We could not be more excited to partner with Pritish Nandy and DQ Entertainment on this enchanting romantic comedy,” said Schindler. “This acquisition is precisely the kind of strong material that is the cornerstone of our local language initiative. When we find motion pictures as wonderful and engaging as this, we will aggressively pursue it.”

“This is a breakthrough production”, says Pritish Nandy, Chairman, PNC, “and we are delighted to take it global through Sony Pictures and DQ Entertainment, our partners for this charming romantic comedy cast against the backdrop of cricket, our national passion.”

Tapaas Chakravorti, Chairman and CEO of DQ Entertainment, says “Meerabai Not Out is a film we are delighted to partner with PNC. We plan to partner many more such well scripted and researched films as we go along, to explore the creative opportunities that bridge animation and live action. Smart films like this excite us because we believe this is where the future of Bollywood lies and PNC caters to this need well. This is the kind of intelligent and successful cinema we would like to associate with and the fact that a studio of the stature of Sony Pictures has acquired the film for global release shows the kind of credibility that Indian cinema has now acquired. We will add value to such films by bringing in our expertise in animation, gaming and other spin-offs.” “This is the first of several movies that we want to do with PNC”, says Uday Singh, Chief of Sony Pictures in India, “and we are confident that Meerabai Not Out will be a hit with cricket lovers all over. Sony has several established platforms in India–in television, theatrical distribution, music and home videos–and our global reach is well known. We intend to put all these behind the film and make it one of this summer’s biggest attractions.”

Pritish Nandy Communications and DQ Entertainment recently announced that the two companies would jointly pool their skills sets and creative expertise to make a slate of animation and live action movies for audiences worldwide.